On Tuesday 9 July, the S&D Group formally approved its key demands for the 2024-2029 term of office.
This step follows a meeting on the same day between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the group and its Spanish President, Iratxe Garcia Perez. At the end of the day, the socialist leader once again expressed her group’s expectations on X. “A commissioner for housing; green deal & the social economy; workers’ rights & gender equality; no deal with far right. Those are our priorities. They should be the priorities of the next Commission”, said the Spaniard, adding that “our support is not a blank cheque”.
The latest published document contains no surprises compared to the last version from 4 July, and continues to insist on the need for a strong programme of social progress and action for quality work, continued ambition in environmental transition policies, a European budget adapted to the various challenges with a permanent investment capacity of 1% of the EU’s GDP from 2027, and the reform of Article 7 to strengthen respect for the rule of law.
On defence, the group reaffirms that the next Multiannual Financial Framework should include a considerably increased heading devoted to security and defence, based on new own resources.
“A Defence Investment Fund should be dedicated to supporting exclusively the EU’s defence industry, without allowing any cuts towards other priorities such as social or cohesion spending”.
The EU should also “explore and mobilise all the possible means to secure sustainable economic, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine during the war and for the reconstruction of the country, with contributions from all of its Member States. The scope of the use of immobilised Russian assets for these means should be extended, and a full implementation of EU sanctions against Russia must be ensured”.
In addition, a European programme should be“established for the most affected Eastern border regions (by the war in Ukraine, editor’s note) (like the Brexit adjustment reserve ) to help these regions to cope with the disproportionate economic shocks – including the acceptance of largest number of Ukrainian war refugees – which they continue to face since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”, the group also says.
EU Charter of Women’s Rights. The chapter on a ‘feminist’ Europe states that “the adoption of an EU Charter of Women’s Rights is our main goal”.
“In addition we want to go further building an ambitious roadmap towards a feminist Europe, integrating the best policies implemented in each of our countries in order to ensure that all women living in Europe share the same strong rights in a whole range of areas (as proposed by Gisèle Halimi with ‘the most favoured European woman clause’). We must also protect women’s right to control their own bodies by ensuring that the European Charter of Fundamental Rights enshrines the right of every woman in Europe to legal and safe abortion”.
The need to integrate gender equality and to budget for it in all EU legislation and policies, as well as in the Multiannual Financial Framework, must also be achieved.
Link to the document: https://aeur.eu/f/czf (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)